Dynamic rescheduling can be used to increase the quality of service in the transportation of goods and passengers. When a flight is delayed, it is probable that a passenger would miss a connecting flight and would be in need for a new flight reservation. Similarly, when meals are not served on a prolonged flight, it is foreseeable that a passenger would be hungry after the flight and need a restaurant reservation. Furthermore, when a perishable cargo reaches a higher than recommended temperature during its shipping, it is foreseeable that the cargo would spoil faster and that alternative shipping reservations need to be made so that the cargo can get to its destination earlier. The ability to make these reservations before the passenger has landed, or before the perishable cargo has spoiled, can bring a dramatic improvement in the transportation of goods and people and a further increase in customer satisfaction.
One method to make these reservations is to manually monitor the state of each passenger and each cargo unit transported and schedule the appropriate reservations as the need for them arises. However, the sheer number of passengers and cargo units in transit, at any point in time, makes this method unfeasible.
A better approach is to make the reservations automatically by associating each passenger and cargo unit with a “responsive object” capable of reporting the state of the passenger, or cargo unit. This way a central reservation system can be configured to periodically submit inquiries about the states of the “responsive objects” and make the appropriate reservations in response to the answers to those inquiries. The inquiries can originate from a location that is near the cargo unit being transported or from a location that is thousands of miles away from the unit. In either case, a portable object that is capable of responding to an inquiry about itself, such as an outfitted cargo unit, is considered to be a “responsive object.” When a responsive object, is located outside, on land, and is stationary, the responsive object is usually able to receive and respond to an inquiry. In contrast, when a responsive object is inside a vehicle or an airplane, far from land, or moving, the ability of the responsive object to receive and respond to inquiries can be impeded. Therefore, a need exists for a reservation system that has an improved ability to monitor the condition and state of responsive objects.